Folding container



Dec. 27, 1955 N. H. HANER 2,728,478

FOLDING CONTAINER Filed Feb. 8, 1952 a Sheets-Sheet 1 /nventor.- lVl/s Henry Haner y WI W V AHorney Dec. 27, 1955 N. H. HANER 2,728,478

FOLDING CONTAINER Filed Feb. 8, 1952 a Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2 6 2 I 4 B i z i r 0\ I l 1 -1 c 4-i i i ,6

Fig.5

5 m 2- 5 it & A if 2 /nvenor.- Nils Henry Haner by 14/ 3 A20 ney Dec. 27, 1955 N. H. HANER FOLDING CONTAINER Filed Feb. 8, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor:

Ni/s Henry H ner fyIV 5 7 s Aiiorney United States Patent FOLDING CONTAINER Nils Henry Hauer, Eskilstuua, Sweden Application February 8, 1952, Serial No. 270,698

Claims. (Cl. 217-16) the end walls can be swung in between the side walls. The

purpose of this arrangement is that when folded the container shall occupy a minimum amount of space and have a shape suitable for handling and loading it, which is of great importance when the emptied containers shall be sent back, as by train or motor trucks. Folding containers have been proposed in which the walls are connected to one another by means of rigid hinges which are secured by screws to the side walls and the end walls. Such hinges are comparatively expensive, and they entail the disadvantage that much time is required for unscrewing the hinges if, for any reason any of the walls of the container has become damaged to such an extent that it is necessary to replace the same.

It is the purpose of the present invention to eliminate these inconveniences. With this purpose in view the invention consists essentially in providing at each end wall of the container, at least one flexible binder, such as a metal band, a chain, a metal wire, a rope of metal wires or of fibrous material, or the like, which is stretched across the external surface of the end wall and across the external surfaces of the adjacent portions, at least, of the front and rear walls of the container and is attached to the end wall and to the said adjacent front and rear wall portions by fastening means holding said binder from displacement relatively to said end wall and said wall portions in a direction transverse to the direction of extension of the binder while allowing motion of the end wall relatively to said binder in the longitudinal direction of the latter when the container is folded or unfolded. Preferably at least two such binders are used. This arrangement renders it possible to manufacture the container at a considerably lower cost than when the container is provided with ordinary hinges, and in addition, the great advantage is attained that the hinder or binders can easily be cut off and replaced by a new hinder or new binders if any of the walls of the container has become damaged and must be replaced.

The accompanying drawings illustrate by way, of ex ample a few constructional forms of the invention. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container according to the invention with its lid or top section removed, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the said lid. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1-, and shows a slightly modified construction. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the wall sections of the container shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows the wall sections of the container in folded position with the top and bottom sections placed alongside the outer wall sections in condition for shipment. Fig. 6 is an end view of the container shown in Fig. 1, and'Fig. 7 is a partial section on the line VII-.Vll in Fig. 6., Fig.8 is a top 2,728,478 Patented Dec. 27, 1955 plan view, similar to Fig. 4, of a slightly modified construction of the wall sections of the container, and Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 5 of the wall sections and the top and bottom sections of this construction in folded position.

The container illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7 comprises two relatively long front and rear wall sections A and B, sometimes called side walls, two shorter end wall sections C and D, sometimes called end walls, a lid or top section E, and a bottom section F. In the instance illustrated, the front and rear wall portions A and B are shown as composed of horizontal wooden boards or slabs 1 held together by vertical cross pieces or cleats 2, and the end wall sections C and D are shown as composed of vertical wooden boards or slabs 3 which are held together by horizontal cross pieces or cleats 4. The top section E is shown as composed of longitudinal boards or slabs 5 held together by cross-pieces or cleats 6. The bottom section F may be made in the same manner, i. e. of longitudinal boards 5 and cross-pieces 6. The said crosspieces 6 of the top and bottom sections may suitably be provided with longitudinal grooves 7 milled into their outer faces, for a purpose which will be explained hereinafter.

The wall portions A, B, C and D are held together by means of flexible binders 8 which surround the wall sections and the ends of which are attached to one another in any suitable manner well known in the art and, therefore, not illustrated in the drawings. In Figs. 1 and 4 to 7, inclusive, the said flexible binders are shown as consisting of metal bands, such as iron or steel bands, which extend in the horizontal direction, i. e. parallel to the top and bottom of the container. The said binders may also consist of metal wires, or of ropes made of fibrous material, such as hemp or the like, or of metal wires, as exemplified in Fig. 3, which will be further described here below. As illustrated in Fig. 1 and Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive, the binders 8 are retained in position on the front and rear wall sections A and B by the binders 8 being placed between the vertical cleats 2 and the horizontal boards 1. For this purpose it is suitable, although not entirely necessary, to provide shallow grooves, as indicated at 9 in Fig. 7, in the outer faces of the horizontal boards under the vertical cleats 2, for rendering it easier to insert the bands 8 between said boards 1 and cleats 2. The binders 8 are retained in position on the end wall sections C by means of staples 10 secured to the upright boards 3 of the wall sections. Preferably, the staples 10 are so driven into the wood as to provide a clearance allowing the binders 8 to move in their longitudinal directions relatively to the staples 10 for a purpose which will be explained here below.

In the unfolded or set-up position of the wall sections, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, one edge face of an end wall section, such as the section C, bears against the inner face of the adjacent wall section A, as shown at the lower right-hand corner in Fig. 4, whereas at the upper righthand corner the inner face of the end wall section C bears against the edge face of the adjacent wall section B. At the last mentioned corner the edge of the board 1 of the Wall section B is provided with a bevelled face 11 at the end of the groove 9, as shown in Fig. 7, and the adjacent upright board 3 of the end wall section C is provided with an oblique aperture 12 through which the binder 8 runs. In this way the said aperture 12 provides additional means for holding the binder 8 to the wall section, and the construction described provides for an easy bending of the flexible binder 8 at the said corner when the container is being folded. The binders 8 may be additionally secured by means of staples to the front .and rear wall sections A and B, but usually this is not necessary if the said sections do not have a very long extension in the horizontal direction.

When the walls sections are in the set-up position shown in Fig. 4, the sections are maintained in the positions shown by the bottom F and, after the container has been packed, also by the top E which is placed upon and may be secured to the wall sections by any suitable means, A preferred way of securing the bottom F and the top E in correct positions relatively to the wall sections is to allow the upright cleats 2 on the front and rear wall sections A and B and the horizontal cleats 4 on the end wall sections C and D to extend below the lower edges and above the upper edges of the said wall sections, re; spectively, and to make the top and bottom sections of a length equal to the overall length and of a width equal to the overall width of the set-up wall sections. In this way the flat surfaces of the bottom section F and top section B will bear against the lower and upper edges of the wall sections, respectively, and the edges of the bottom and top sections will bear against the inner faces of the projecting portions of the cleats 2 and 4. The bottom and top sections may then be securely fastened to the wall sections by surrounding the entire box with iron bands or the like (not shown in the drawing) placed in the grooves 7 in the cross-pieces or cleats 6 of the top and bottom sections and thus retained in position and prevented from sliding along the completed container. When the container has been opened, as by cutting oil the lastmentioned bands and by removing the top section E, and the container has been emptied and so that its upper edge swings inwards to the right and down against the front wall section A, and the wall section C is swung about its upper edge, as viewed in Fig. 4, so that its lower edge swings inwards and up against the rear wall section B. Simultaneously, andas a result of these movements of the end sections C and D, the front and rear sections A and B are moved towards one another so that, finally, the two sections C and D will come to lie between the sections A and B parallel with the same, as shown in Fig. 5. It will be understood that in order to render it possible to swing the end sections C and D inwards in the manner above stated, it is essential that the binders 8 must not be secured to the said sections C and D at any point between the swinging edge of each section and the staple 10 which is fastened to such section. In other words, the binders 8 must not be attached to those half portions of the end sections C and D which, in the folded position of the container as shown in Fig. 5, are positioned farthest in between the front and rear sections A and B. It will be understood that in order that the end sections C and D shall come well in between the sections A and B in the folded condition of the con 'tainer, the staples 10 should be positioned at a distance from the edge about which the end section swings when the container is folded-that is, as regards secttonc, the upper right-hand corner, and as regards section D, the lower left-hand corner in Fig. 4which distance is, at the most, half the width of the section, and preferably somewhat less. When the sections A, B, C and D have been folded in the manner above described, the top E and the bottom F may be placed alongside the two outer sections A and B, preferably in such position that the cleats 6 on said top and bottom sections are directed inwards and lie between the cleats 2 on the sections A and B, as shown in Fig. 5. All parts of the container may then be tied together by means of ropes, strings or the like. In this way a package is obtained having a sub stantially parallelepipedic shape which is suitable for transport and the length of which is not appreciably greater than the sections A and B of the "container.

Fig. 3 illustrates a modification of the construction above described in which the binders 8 do not extend along the entire length of the sections A and B. According to this modification the binders 8 are stretched across the end sections C and D to which they are attached in the manner above described, and across adjacent portions of the sections A and B, the binders passing between the upright cleats 2 and the boards 1 of the lastmentioned sections in the manner above explained. The protruding ends of the upper and lower binders 8' are then joined to one another in any suitable manner, as by twisting them to a knot 14 if the binders consist of wire or wire ropes. It will be easily understood that the two binders shown in Fig. 3 may consist of a single piece if on the rear side of the container the binder is run from the upper level to the lower level along the vertical edge of the cleat 2 on the rear wall section. In Fig. 3 the bottom section is provided with cross pieces 15 of a sufficient height to permit a truck to be run under the container for raising and transporting the same.

In the constructional form illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, are used to denote the wall sections A, B, C and D, top E and bottom F, and the cleats 2, 4 and 6, binders 8 and staples 10. This constructional form differs from that above described mainly in that the length of the side sections A and B is equal to the inside length of the set-up container, and the Width of the end sections C and D is equal to the inside width of the set-up container, so that the wall sections are only in contact with one another at their inner corners or edges. Bevelled surfaces 16 and 17 are provided in the vertical edge surfaces of the wall sections to accommodate the binders 8 which are guided at the midpoints of the end wall sections C and D by means of staples 10 in the manner described in connec tion with the first constructional form. This construction prov-ides the advantage that each end wall section C and D can be swung inwards about either of its side edges, that is, about either the top or bottom corner as viewed in Fig, 8, provided of course that the binders 8 are only secured to the end wall sections at points midway between their vertical edg'es. In this way the end wall sections C and D will come practically entirely within the confines of the sections A and B in the folded positions of the sections as shown in Fig. 9, which also shows the bottom F and top E placed along the sections A and B in the same manner as in Fig. 5.

Although several forms of the invention have been shown and described byway of illustration, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in various forms of construction coming within the scope of the appended claims.

Iclairn:

l. A folding container including a top, a bottom, side walls, end walls and at least one flexible, substantially non-extensible binder interconnecting each end wall with the adjacent portions of the side walls, said flexible binder of one of said end walls having a first portion secured against transverse displacement to the external surface of the adjacent edge portion of one of said side walls, a second portion secured against transverse displacement to the external surface of the edge portion of said end wall adjacent said aforementioned side wall, a third portion secured against transverse displacement to the external surface of a central portion of said end wall and a fourth :port ion secured against transverse displacement to the external surface of the adjacent edge portion of the other or side walls, the binder between said third and fourth portions being disposed on the outside of said end wall and unattached to same, whereby when the con tainer is folded the binder between said first and second portions constitutes a-hinge enabling said end wall to fold flat against the inside of said first-mentioned side walland the binder between "said third and fourth portions enables the insideot said second-mentioned side wall to lie against the outside of said end walh'that edge of said end wall which is adjacent the aforesaid adjacent edge portion of said second-mentioned side wall being not extended bcyond the inner surface of said second-mentioned side wall when the container is in open position, so that said last mentioned edge can be swung inwardly along an arcuate path without causing elongation of said flexible binder.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the adjacent edge portions of said end wall and said first-mentioned side wall have surfaces which are diagonally disposed and which are in alignment when the container is in open condition, the said flexible binder extending across said surfaces.

3. In a collapsible container movable between open and collapsed positions and having a top, a bottom, and structurally independent side and end Walls, the combina tion of means providing a hinged connection between one edge of one of said end walls and an adjacent edge of a side wall and for permitting the opposite edge of said end wall to swing inwardly against said first-mentioned side wall as the opposite side wall is moved toward said first-mentioned side wall when said container is collapsed, said means comprising a flexible, substantially non-extensible binder extending across the external surfaces of said end wall and adjacent portions of said side walls, said binder having an attached span portion and an unattached span portion overlying said endwall when in open position and having fixed portions overlying said adjacent side wall portions, together with means securing said fixed portions and said attached span portion to the respective wall portions overlain thereby against movement in a direction transverse to the orientation of said binder whereby said unattached span portion cooperates with said other binder portions to maintain said walls in substantially edge abutting contact when in open position, and serves to draw said opposite side wall toward said first-mentioned side wall when said container is collapsed, said opposite edge of said end wall being not extended beyond the inner surface of said opposite side Wall when the container is in open position, so that said opposite edge can be swung inwardly along an arcuate path without causing elongation of said flexible member.

4. In a collapsible container movable between open and collapsed positions, the combination of a top, a bottom, structurally independent side walls and end walls, means providing a hinged connection between one edge of one of said end walls and an adjacent edge of a side wall and for permitting the opposite edge of said end wall to swing inwardly against said first mentioned side wall as the op posite side wall is moved toward said first mentioned side wall when said container is collapsed, said means comprising a flexible, substantially non-extensible binder extending across the external surface of said end wall when in open position and across the external surfaces of adjacent portions of said side walls, said binder having fixed portions overlying said adjacent side wall portions and having an intermediate part of length substantially equal to the width of said end wall and consisting of a span portion attached to a portion of said end wall adjacent said first mentioned edge thereof and an unattached span portion overlying the other portion of said end wall 6 when the container is in open position, together with means securing said fixed binder portions to said adjacent side wall portions against movement in a direction transverse to the orientation of said binder, and means securing said attached span portion to said edge portion of said end wall against movement in a direction transverse to the orientation of said binder, whereby said unattached span portion cooperates with said other binder portions to maintain said walls in substantially edge abutting contact when the container is in open position, and serves to draw said opposite side wall toward said first mentioned side wall when said container is collapsed, said opposite edge of said end wall being not extended beyond the inner surface of said opposite side wall when the container is in open position, so that said opposite edge can be swung inwardly along an arcuate path without causing elongation of said flexible member.

5. A collapsible container movable between open and collapsed positions, comprising a top, a bottom, structurally independent side walls and end walls, a flexible, substantially non-extensible binder at each end of the container extending across the external surface of the end wall at each end when the container is in open position and across the external surfaces of adjacent portions of said side walls, said binder having fixed portions overlying said adjacent side Wall portions and having a span portion attached to one portion of one of said end walls and an unattached span portion overlying another portion of said end wall when the container is in open position, means securing said fixed binder portions to said adjacent side wall portions against movement in a direction transverse to the orientation of said binder, means securing said attached span portion to an edge portion of said end wall against movement in a direction transverse to the orientation of said binder, whereby said attached span portion together with the adjacent fixed binder portion provides a hinged connection between the edge of said end wall portion and the edge of the adjacent side wall for permitting the opposite edge of said end wall to swing inwardly against said side wall as the opposed side wall is moved towards said first mentioned side wall when said container is collapsed, and whereby said unattached span portion of said binder serves to draw said opposite side wall towards said first mentioned side wall when saidcontainer is collapsed and cooperates with said other binder portions to maintain said walls in substantially edge abutting contact when the container is in open position, said opposite edge of said end wall being not extended beyond the inner surface of said opposite side wall when the container is in open position, so that said opposite edge can be swung inwardly along an arcuate path without causing elongation of said flexible member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 924,410 Wrenshall June 8, 1909 2,042,323 Ott May 26, 1936 2,042,329 Bigelow May 26, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,593 Great Britain Feb. 24, 1892 121,428 Great Britain Dec. 9, 1918 218,152 Great Britain July 3, 1924 357,215 Great Britain Sept. 16, 1931 

